, 1887-12-21
HOUSES WITHOUT FENCES.
Some of the Bad Results of Fencelessnesa-
Homo Privacy.

Homo Privacy.
There is n growing fashion OF building
houses without fences, and VIC even see
fences removed from houses already pro-
vided with them. Probably economy is
at the bottom of the fashion, but there
are also many people who admire ii.
How pretty n street looks without
fences, they say. 1t is like q park"
Perhaps it is. hut do any Of US want to
live in a park?
Having oncc had n house in one of
these fCncclcss communities, | would like
to describe come of the peculilrities of
tho system. The principal trouble was
about children. 1t was impossible to turn
them out with any safety 10 play in their
own yard, unless they had n nurse i'll
constant attendance. Most children can
be taught TO stay in n yard which has q
fence and gate, but few are 80 obedIent
as TO remain ON ground which has no
boundary but n line OF turf. The conse-
qucnCe was that in our neighborhood the
middle of the street was the favorite play
ground for children of all ages, the very
little ones taking an especial delight, like
hens, in the depth of the dust, and also,
of course, frequently running away. The
idea of home seemed to have but half its
Iltsillluk W lltSb CHlllItl, anu lIlt liCI
that "a mans house is his CASTLE, and
hat no one has n right to trespass on
other peoples grounds, was never guessed
at by most of the members of our rising
generation. 1 havc watched the children
coming home from school, and have
noticed that every child made a bee line
for home without the slightest reference
to private grounds, which they crossed
at every anglo which was most convent
ent. l even saw n boy climb up and
look into n window of a house he was
passing.
Not only children, however, but grown
people passed back and forth over each
others grounds, as n matter of course,
going between n gentleman's house and
his outhouscs, and passing close to the
windows, or to people sitting out on the
lawn.
AS with human beings, so with dogs.
They spent most of their time in their
neighbors' yards or on their piazZas,
where they would sometimes prevent
callers from ringing the door bell. There
was one lady who was actually unable
sometimes to 90 out upon her own piazza
because the immcn5e dog of a quite dis
ant ~ncighbor had a fancy for lying there,
and if she appeared, would threaten and
growl at her. AS to dogs rolling and
wrestling with each other in tho flower
beds, and turning up Unexpectedly in
the cellar, hat was quite a matter of
course.
Then there were cows. To be sure
they were not allowed to go loose, but
every now and then one would pull up
the stake TO which she was tied, so that
twice l found footprints, which looked
large enough for those of n mastodon, all
over my flower beds and soft, newly
made lawn. Then one day l happened
TO glance out of ono of my chamber win
dows, and discovered n very large bull
foraging directly below it, with a herd of
attendant cows. They had all broken out
of their pasture. The same thing hap
pened occasionally with horses. L once
counted nine, all passing up the street,
with nothing between them and the
playing children and neatly kept flower
beds. Such Inconvenience as these do
not seem to be balanced by the supposed
beauty of the fenceless system.
In Europe the feeling that the first es-
sential of n refined home is privacy is
carried rather too far, for the high walls
with which gentlemen's houses are 80
often surrounded are n sad drawback to
the beauty Of tho country in general; but
l believe that tho principle is n right one.
A house which stands as it were in the
street, which is not separated either by n
hedge or fence from the public thorough
fare, is wanting, in my opinion, in n of
the most important clements of n true
homc.-Boston Transcript.